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Ex-constable accused of excusing fines in exchange for sex

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A man traded sex for freedom while working as a Pennsylvania state constable in Carbon County, state agents say.

George Bottomley Jr., 41, of the 200 block of West Bertsch Street, Lansford, faces one ungraded count of involuntary servitude, seven counts of promoting prostitution and six counts bribery in official and political matters, all third-degree felonies, by the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General. He was also charged with six second-degree misdemeanor counts of obstruction of administration of law.

Carbon County Judge Steven Serfass presided over his preliminary arraignment Tuesday afternoon, setting bail at 10 percent of $20,000, which Bottomley posted, freeing himself from a jail stay.

Bottomley, a certified state constable until Dec. 31, 2016, was first elected to a six-year term as constable in Lansford on Nov. 3, 2009, and worked primarily out of the Lansford district court office. He ran unopposed in November 2015 and was re-elected to the position but was suspended from performing constable duties in the county through a Carbon County Court administrative order in October 2016.

Arrest papers filed by the attorney general’s office state Bottomley solicited seven women for sex in exchange for paying them money or disregarding fines. Two of them had sex with Bottomley because they felt obligated to do so because of his constable position, court papers state.

Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced the arrest in a press release Wednesday.

“These charges involve an outrageous abuse of authority from an elected public official whose position requires the public’s trust,” Shapiro said. “This defendant used his power and position to prey upon women to feed his own desires. It is terrible conduct and we’ll prosecute it to the fullest extent of the law.”

Attempts to reach an attorney listed as representing Bottomley for comment, were unsuccessful Wednesday morning.

The state agent interviewed “numerous” women who had contact with Bottomley from 2010 to present and found he would first contact them about their warrants in person and would offer to “help” them, arrest papers state.

He would then send them text messages claiming he could help them if they helped him, arrest records state, and as the text and phone calls continued, he would become clearer about the help he needed — telling them he would pay them to have sex with him and they could use that money to pay fines and costs.

In other cases, court papers state, he would tell the women he would not arrest them on their warrants if they had sex with him.

One of the women wasn’t working at the time to earn money pay off her fines and feared going to jail on warrants, an agent wrote, because there wasn’t anyone available to take care of her child. She and Bottomley conversed over several text and telephone conversations and Bottomley ultimately arranged in early 2015 to pay the victim $200 to have sex with her, arrest papers claim.

The victim said she met Bottomley at his home and entered through a basement door, law enforcement states. Inside he had blankets and a pillow set up on the floor next to a wooden workbench and they engaged in sex, court papers state, with him paying her $60 afterward to pay her fines.

When questioned about being shorted money, the victim told the agent she left without confrontation, court documents state, because Bottomley had the power to arrest her at any time and she feared he would use his powers to take her away from her child.

A second victim told the agent Bottomley propositioned her about the same arrangement in lieu of her paying off her boyfriend’s fines with cash, court papers state. Eventually the woman collected enough money to pay off his outstanding fines and Bottomley stopped contacting her. During one conversation Bottomley referenced the television show, “The Client List,” which portrayed prostitution, the agent wrote.

Then in 2016, arrest papers state, the same victim had an outstanding traffic warrant and agreed to have her conversation with Bottomley recorded. She placed a call to him Sept. 22 and discussed the warrant.

Later, a state agent posed as the victim, according to court documents, and engaged in numerous text messages with Bottomley where he said he was willing to help her, asking if she remembered how he offered to help her before.

Another woman told agents her friend had sex with Bottomley in exchange for money and that same friend, the agent wrote, had text messages from him where he offered to pay the women $250 each for a threesome to pay off fines or to have him disregard the warrants.

The last victim interviewed by the agent stated she met Bottomley outside his home in 2015 and he brought her into the basement after one to two weeks of exchanging messages and phone calls, court papers state. She told him she was struggling financially, court documents state, and he then asked her to have sex with him for cash. Initially hesitant, she eventually accepted the offer, according to arrest papers.

Agents executed a search warrant at Bottomley’s home Sept. 29, 2016, finding he cleared his cellphone of all text messages and emails, the agent wrote. They also found a makeshift bed in the basement and two additional cellphones in his bedroom.

Bottomley claimed to not know why the attorney general’s office was investigating him and denied soliciting the woman for sex, saying he offered to pay fines and costs because he was trying to be a “good guy” to one of them, court papers state. He also admitted to having women over and paying them for information.

A preliminary hearing is tentatively scheduled for April 26.

He will be prosecuted by Deputy Attorney General Rebecca Elo of the Attorney General’s Criminal Prosecutions Section.

The state attorney general’s office was asked by the Carbon County District Attorney’s Office to investigate allegations against Bottomley after the initial claim was passed on to Lansford police, arrest papers state.

Contact the writer: achristman@standardspeaker.com; 570-501-3584

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